BP: Haiku Dialogue–Hobbies

This week’s Haiku Dialogue column, which is being moderated (edited) by Tia Haynes, was about hobbies. The column can be found on the Haiku Foundation’s website,  http://www.thehaikufoundation.org . This pedometer geek was fortunate to have the following haiku selected:

window seat…

all the places she visits

through books

~Nancy Brady, 2020

For those who have read my blogs over the years should realize that reading is one of my hobbies, maybe even my favorite hobby. It is a great way to see the world especially in this time of Covid-19, and unfortunately no one is going to be traveling much until the pandemic is over. Or as Dr. Seuss once wrote, “oh, the places you’ll go.”

To see all of the haiku covering hobbies or to participate in next week’s column on the color yellow (or shades thereof), check out the Haiku Foundation.

BP: Stardust Haiku, March 2020

Yesterday’s release of Stardust Haiku: Poetry With a Little Sparkle, Issue #39 (www.stardusthaiku.blogspot.com) contains one of this pedometer geek’s haiku.  It is as follows:

crow moon

rose petals drop

onto the casket

~Nancy Brady, 2020

Check out all of this issue’s haiku as well as previous issues at the website. Valentina Ranaldi-Adams has been editing this monthly journal since its exception in January 2017.

 

BP: Haiku Dialogue: Spring

 

This week at the Haiku Foundation’s weekly column, Haiku Dialogue, Tia Haynes, who is  the editor, designated the signs of spring as the prompt. This pedometer geek was fortunate in that Tia chose one of my submitted haiku. It is as follows:

purple crocuses

my hope rises

with the sun

~Nancy Brady, 2020

I have always loved crocuses and eagerly await the first crocus to bloom. In the small city in which we reside, the first to be seen are down the street in front of the Presbyterian Church. Eventually the ones that we have planted emerge and blossom. The last crocuses to bloom are tucked into ground cover and gets little direct sunlight. These harbingers of spring make me realize that yes,  I have survived the grays of another winter and make me hopeful for the greening of the earth once again. Because theses crocuses are all over the the city and bloom at different intervals, it is a protracted period of enjoyment for this pedometer geek.

Read all the haiku about spring at http://www.thehaikufoundation.org

Photo credit: Nancy Brady

 

 

Tapestry: A poem from the past

From my senior year English journal, one of the poems I wrote, which seems appropriate because of my previous post about my needlepoint canvas. Although I never gave it a title, I do now. It is as follows:

Tapestry

life is a tapestry

part planned, part not

some of it orderly

some of it, not.

 

part of life is stitched

part of it readable

part of it blank,

vague, undecipherable.

 

everyone has a tapestry

everyone must stitch it,

stitch by stitch

the same stitches are ripped out,

bit by bit.

 

i stitch my canvas every day

hoping to add the right stitches,

taking out what may

be wrong, and trying to make my

tapestry, my life, turn out the right way.

Nancy Brady, April 1973

Some background: Mrs. Callahan, our class’s senior English literature teacher, required us to write a journal entry every week throughout the second semester. (The idea of this was based on some English writer who wrote a journal; I don’t remember now who it was.)  She left it open-ended in that we could write whatever we wanted. If we wanted to make it a diary, we could. Short stories, poems, rants, you-name-it ruled the day. On Friday, though, it had to be handed in to her for grading. I know when she assigned it to us, many of the class groaned. There were weeks when I was writing something, anything hurriedly to turn in; other times, the words seemed to flow. As such, my journal was all over the place, too.

In retrospect, for me, this was transformative. While I had written a few poems previously, I rarely shared them with anyone. Now, weekly, I got feedback from her. Sometimes it was just a check mark to indicate she had read it, but most times, there was a comment about my writing. Her comments were really affirming, and I have never stopped writing. I suspect that other classmates may have been similarly affected (Kevin, are you editing your memoir?). It is only in the last couple years that I realize that she had to read not only my rambling* every week, but everyone’s in our class. Granted, we were a relatively small class of eighty-one students, but still to have read and commented on each person’s writing week after week. Wow!

* I was in an e.e. cummings mode during this time; I never capitalized anything (hence no capitals in the above poem), and I am sure that drove her crazy.

 

 

A Stitch in Time…

While it is nearly the end of the first quarter, this pedometer geek is still working on New Year’s resolutions. At one time there would a monthly blog post about the books being read (Resolution 1: Read more books) and about the steps being taken (Resolution 2: Put more steps on the pedometer), but this blogger wasn’t sure that it was still worth writing each month.

The newest resolution, which was added to the others, was to finish a needlepoint canvas that was first purchased back in 1980/81 when Rink’s Department Store in Kettering was closing its doors for good. Those who have never lived in Ohio may not remember Rink’s, but this pedometer geek certainly does, but I digress.

Regardless, this needlepoint canvas of a swan swimming in a pond under the full moon has accompanied me from home to home for almost forty years. There was always something that seemed to take priority over it like work, then the birth (and rearing) of two boys (who are now men with families of their own, but I digress once again), and so much more. From time to time, this pedometer geek would work on it until a snag would occur (including a resolution that fell by the wayside several years ago).

The biggest snag was that I discovered that the kit didn’t have the requisite amount of yarn to complete the canvas. First, the gray yarn of the clouds ran out about halfway through that area. Stitching had to be ripped out and replaced with a substitute gray. Most recently, this pedometer geek recognized that another color of yarn would run out before the area on the canvas was completed. Refusing to pick out all the stitches already done, the color was blended in after a trip to Jo-Ann Stores, in which all the remaining colors were matched as closely as possible to the original yarns. (Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.) It required buying ten different skeins of yarn, most of which will never be used on this canvas. On the other hand, there should not be any color that runs out now.

Of all the needlepoint kits that I have ever made, this is the first time that this problem of yarn running out has ever occurred. Most times there is more than enough of each kind used. I can only think that someone borrowed some of the yarn to help out another person with the same needlepoint kit since this package was discounted during the store’s out-of-business sale.

In order to keep the resolution, above is a photo of the canvas showing the progress so far. The swan is complete; the moon and the clouds are complete except for some shading, and am working on the water. Perhaps, that will keep this pedometer geek on track. The fact that the Covid-19 pandemic is keeping everyone close to home will help this pedometer geek, too. Stay safe, practice social distancing, and stay healthy.

Now, what to do with the all the extra yarn when finished. Suggestions? (And no, I do not knit or crochet!)

BP: Haiku Dialogue: School Days

This week The Haiku Foundation’s Haiku Dialogue column was on the theme of school days. Tia Haynes, who is editing the column now, chose one of this pedometer geek’s haiku. It is as follows:

long division

the race to be

first

~Nancy Brady, 2020

In third grade, our class had a teacher who pushed math. Our class was doing math that was well beyond grade level, and she would often have students at the blackboard solving problems. The last one to complete the problem she ridiculed so that everyone hurried to finish ahead of the rest. No one wanted to be last. Only in hindsight did this student realize that our teacher was abusive.

Read all the haiku on school days at http://www.thehaikufoundation.org. Something will resonate with everyone who has ever attended school.

Immigrant…

Immigrant (a re-run):
We received our request for the 2020 census this week, and after answering it earlier today, we were still disturbed by some of the questions. In particular, there was a specific section on ethnicity of Latino, Hispanic, etc. It was followed by various other ethnicity identifiers which were to be broken down.
Our concern was that this singling out of those persons who identify as Latino might be put off and thus not be represented. I hope this isn’t true as everyone needs to be counted.
When it came to the census, we took our 23andme.com DNA into account. We can only hope that others will do the same.
I am an immigrant!
Are you?

#iamanimmigrant

nbsmithblog...random digressions and musings

A couple of years ago my husband and I had our genome mapped through 23andme.com. I have to say I was surprised to find out what my genes said about me (and my ethnic makeup). While I knew that I had mostly Scots-Irish ancestors based on my grandmother’s genealogy quest in the late sixties, I didn’t know much more than that.

What I found out is that I am a mutt, a Heinz 57, if you will. My genetic makeup includes sub-Saharan African ancestry, Native American ancestry, Asian ancestry, and European ancestry including 2.6% Neanderthal. In other words, I am a human being with parts from across the globe. I don’t know how all these parts came to be. I don’t know all the pieces to my genetic puzzle; I just know that based on my genetic results, I am black, brown, red, yellow, and white.

I am a United…

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